Contact centers provide support and other services to individuals who contact the contact center. A contact center typically utilizes an electronic contact center system (CCS) to implement certain functionalities of the contact center. When a contacting individual (CI) contacts a contact center, the CCS initiates a new contact center session and routes the CI to an available contact center agent (CCA). The CCS, or the CCA via the CCS, may generate a contact center record that will be used to capture information about the contact center session. The contact center record may be stored in the CCS and subsequently analyzed, and/or used to maintain a history regarding a particular problem, or a particular CI.
A CCA often utilizes a microphone or other audio input device in the performance of her duties. The audio input device may be utilized, for example, to engage in a conversation with the CI. When the CCA is not engaging in an audio conversation with the CI, such as after the CCA has terminated or suspended the audio conversation with the CI, the microphone is not used by the CCA, but continues to capture sounds.
Contact centers increasingly utilize multiple communication modes for interacting with CIs. For example, as discussed previously, a CCA may engage in an audio conversation with a CI. Alternatively, a CCA may utilize a non-audio communication mode, such as a chat or email session to communicate with the CI. The microphone is not utilized by the CCA to converse with the CI during a non-audio communication mode, but can be capable of continuing to capture sounds. In other alternatives, video streams may be communicated from either the CCA to the CI, the CI to the CCA, or between the CI and the CCA, and audio may or may not be directly associated with one or more of the video streams.